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The body of late President Hugo Chavez was moved on Friday from Venezuela’s Military Academy to the site of a planned Museum of the Bolivarian Revolution.

Cavalry officers in 19th-century uniforms carried the coffin into the academy’s courtyard, where more than 1,000 cadets rendered honors to the one-time paratrooper.

Chavez, 58, died March 5 after a nearly two-year battle with cancer and his state funeral took place last Friday, but authorities decided to keep the glass-covered coffin at the military academy for an extra week to give as many people as possible the chance to pay their final respects.

Leading the procession across the courtyard to the street were the dead president’s parents, accompanied by other family members, senior officials and Venezuela’s military brass.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, one of the more than 30 world leaders who attended last week’s state funeral, was also present as the cadets sang the traditional military anthem “Patria querida” (Beloved Homeland) and canons fired volleys.

Combat aircraft flew over the academy during the ceremony, which followed a Mass and remarks by Chavez mentor Maj. Gen. Jacinto Perez Arcay, National Assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello and one of the late president’s daughters, Maria Gabriela Chavez.

First elected in 1998, Hugo Chavez won another six-year term in last October’s presidential contest.

He took to the airwaves two months later to tell Venezuelans he was traveling to Cuba for a fourth operation to deal with the cancer that was diagnosed in June 2011.

The man Chavez designated as his successor, Vice President Nicolas Maduro, became acting head of state last week and will represent the governing leftist PSUV party in next month’s special election.

A clash between Juventus and Bayern Munich is the most exciting matchup to emerge from Friday’s Champions League quarterfinal at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Fans hoping for a yet another installment of the rivalry between Spanish heavyweights Real Madrid and FC Barcelona will have to bide their time and hope that both clubs advance to the semis.

The Blancos drew Turkey’s Galatasaray, whose Burak Yilmaz is currently tied with Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for top scorer in the tourney.

Barça faces off with Paris Saint-Germain, who must play the first leg without their star, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, serving a suspension for a red card during the French club’s knockout stage battle with Valencia.

The third Spanish side to advance to the quarters, Champions League newcomer Malaga, drew Borussia Dortmund, a formidable opponent.

Real Madrid, Malaga and PSG will host the first leg matches on April 2-3. The second leg is set for April 9-10.

HSI special agents are attempting to locate Fredy Marcelo Arbito, 30, of Hightstown, N.J., who is wanted for possessing child pornography. He allegedly was also duping at least one young victim to produce additional child pornography. The criminal complaint and federal arrest warrant were signed Jan. 29, 2013, by U.S. Magistrate Judge Tonianne J. Bongiovanni.

Arbito is described by HSI special agents as being a naturalized U.S. citizen from Ecuador. Arbito is 6 feet tall, weighs 150 pounds and has a mole under his right eye. Although his whereabouts are unknown, HSI special agents believe Arbito is still residing in New Jersey.

According to the criminal complaint, Arbito knowingly and willfully possessed child pornography. In addition, the investigation revealed that Arbito allegedly used the Internet to victimize a minor by capturing and producing sexually explicit videos and images of the minor. Arbito allegedly accomplished this through a scheme by pretending to be a minor female who befriended the minor victim. Arbito then threatened to send those sexually explicit images to the public if the victim did not comply with his demand to engage in further sexually explicit conduct online via a video chat.

As a result of the investigation, HSI believes Arbito has similarly victimized other minors and may be currently engaged in related activities.

Anyone with any information on Arbito’s whereabouts is asked to contact HSI immediately, in one of two ways:

- Call the HSI Tip Line at 1-866-347-2423; or
- Submit a tip online at www.ICE.gov/tips.

Excavations for a railroad line in London have uncovered the remains of 13 bodies and ceramics that appear to date back to the mid-14th century when the bubonic plague ravaged Britain, the BBC reported Friday.

It has long been known that a cemetery once existed in the area, but its exact location was a mystery.

The skeletons and ceramics were found in Charterhouse Square during excavations carried out for Crossrail, a high-speed passenger rail line.

DNA analyses made on the human remains could provide valuable information on the rise of the bacteria that grew into the epidemic known as the Black Death, which killed more than 25 million people in Europe and was at its most deadly between 1347 and 1353.

The way that the bodies were laid in two orderly rows suggests they were buried when the scourge first broke out and before it turned into the pandemic that years later led to thousands of bodies being piled up in mass graves.

Archaeologists working on the Crossrail project and others for the Museum of London Archaeology will continue digging to discover more remains and other discoveries, according to the BBC.

“We’ve found archaeology from pretty much all periods - from the very ancient prehistoric right up to a 20th-century industrial site, but this site is probably the most important medieval site we’ve got,” Crossrail project archaeologist Jay Carver told the broadcaster.

The Brazilian government announced it will offer 32.9 billion reais ($16.5 billion) in loans over the next two years to companies using technological innovation to improve their competitiveness.

“I believe that (the Brazilian economy) will grow in proportion to the measures we adopt in search of greater competitiveness,” President Dilma Rousseff said during an event held at the Planalto presidential palace to present the Company Innovation Plan.

Details of the plan were explained by Science and Technology Minister Marco Antonio Raupp, whose office will be responsible for evaluating the projects under consideration.

Raupp said the government loans will benefit above all companies in the industrial, agricultural and service sectors, and that they will be provided by the BNDES state development bank and the Savings and Loan Bank for Studies and Projects, or Finep.

The 12-year loans will go exclusively to projects of technological innovation and modernization, with annual interest rates of between 2.5 percent and 5 percent.

The minister said the government is considering another 3.5 billion reais ($1.8 billion) for similar projects in the area of telecommunications, though this will depend on talks currently underway with companies of the sector.

Pope Francis said Friday in his meeting with the cardinals that they must avoid pessimism and find the courage every day to spread the Gospel to all corners of the earth.

“Our mission is to bring Jesus to man and bring man to know the Jesus who is truly present in our church. We must never give in to pessimism, to that bitterness the devil offers us every day. There is no room for pessimism or discouragement,” the pope said in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall.

“The Holy Spirit gives us the courage to persevere with new methods of evangelism to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth,” the new pontiff said.

Francis, who nearly fell at one point while going to greet the dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano, said that Christian reality is “attractive and persuasive.”

Looking at the cardinals, the 76-year-old Argentine noted that more than half the group are elderly, but added that age brings wisdom.

“Let us pass this wisdom on to the young, like a good wine that improves with age,” he said.

Francis repeated the need for unity in the church and said he was moved by the reception offered him by the faithful Wednesday night when he appeared for the first time on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

He also had words for Benedict XVI, “my venerable predecessor,” who he said “has enriched the church with his teachings of faith, humility and obedience.”

The new pope also noted Benedict XVI’s “courageous and humble gesture,” a reference to his resignation.

Francis was greeted with resounding applause by the cardinals and he in turn greeted each of them individually in an atmosphere of joy and laughter.

Now that the weekend is finally upon us, let’s take a look at the what’s opening in theaters today.

Spring Breakers
-Stars: Selena Gomez, James Franco, Ashley Benson, Vanessa Hudgens
-Rating: R
-Genre: Drama, Comedy
-The gist: Four college girls who land in jail after robbing a restaurant in order to fund their spring break vacation find themselves bailed out by a drug and arms dealer who wants them to do some dirty work.

The Call
-Stars: Halle Berry, Justina Machado, Abigail Breslin, Jose Zuniga
-Rating: R
-Genre: Thriller
-The gist: When veteran 911 operator Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) receives a call from a girl who has just been abducted (Abigail Breslin), she soon realizes that she must confront a killer from her past in order to save the girl’s life.

Upside Down (limited theaters)
-Stars: Jim Sturgess, Kirsten Dunst
-Rating: PG-13
-Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
-The gist: Adam (Jim Sturgess) and Eden (Kirsten Dunst) fell in love as teenagers, in spite of enormous physical and cultural obstacles. They live on twin planets, pulled in opposite directions. He lives on an impoverished planet, while she lives on the wealthy, corrupt version. When border agents discover the illicit romance, Eden appears to suffer a fatal fall. Ten years later, however, when Adam learns that Eden is alive and working at the headquarters that connects their planets, he sets out to find her.

Coming soon…

On March 20th, director Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines with hit theaters.

A motorcycle stunt rider turns to robbing banks as a way to provide for his lover and their newborn child, a decision that puts him on a collision course with an ambitious rookie cop navigating a department ruled by a corrupt detective.

A former governor of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo extradited to the United States to face drug charges says he was framed by Ernesto Zedillo, the Aztec nation’s president in 1994-2000, Milenio newspaper reported.

Zedillo - now teaching at Yale University - engineered a smear campaign against him “with the evident intention of carrying out a public lynching,” Mario Villanueva said in a handwritten letter published by the capital daily.

As evidence, Villanueva cited a tip he received in the late 1990s from an unnamed senior official of Mexico’s Cisen intelligence agency.

The then-governor of the Caribbean state had obtained a document dealing accusations that he was involved in drug trafficking.

“The Cisen director acknowledged that the information in the document was not accurate and, responding to my question regarding who gave the instructions to prepare it, he answered that the order was given from Los Pinos (the presidential residence), from the president of the republic,” Villanueva wrote.

The presidents who succeeded Zedillo, Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon, went along with the fabrication “out of political-electoral interests,” the former governor said.

Villanueva disappeared shortly after his gubernatorial term ended in 1999 as he was under investigation for links to organized crime.

He was arrested in 2001 and given a six-year prison sentence on lesser charges, which he completed in 2007. But he was immediately re-arrested pursuant to a U.S. request for his extradition on accusations of money laundering and drug smuggling.

Villanueva was handed over to the United States in 2010.

Facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted, the 64-year-old politico agreed last August to plead guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence.

The trailer for the fifth film in the Scary Movie franchise has been released.

As expected, Scary Movie 5 has a number of celebrities making appearances, including Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Ashley Tisdale, Kate Walsh, Jerry O’Connell, and even Mike Tyson.

IMBD synopsis for Scary Movie 5:

A couple begin to experience some unusual activity after bringing their newborn son home from the hospital. With the help of home-surveillance cameras and a team of experts, they learn they’re being stalked by a nefarious demon.

Earlier this week, Demi Lovato was interviewed on a radio show and was asked why her fans, often called Lovatics, are so “hardcore”, especially on Twitter.

With nearly 12.5 million followers on Twitter, Demi is one of the post popular celebrities on the social media site, so what is it that makes her fans so loyal?

During her interview with Minnesota radio station KDWB, Lovato had this to say about her interaction with her fans:

A lot of celebrities don’t open up to their fans. They just tell them what they want to hear. They don’t really tell them things that can benefit their lives. They just, you know, maybe flaunt around a boyfriend and sell a couple albums. That’s not what my career is about.

She former Disney star did not name names, but many are wondering to whom she is referring. Could she be talking about serial dater Taylor Swift, fellow Disney alum and former BFF Selena Gomez, or someone else completely?

Actresses Kate del Castillo and Michelle Rodriguez and pop singer Cristian Castro will be among the celebrities taking part in a charity auto race on April 20 in Long Beach, California, to benefit children battling serious illnesses, organizers said in a statement.

Rodriguez, an American, and Mexicans Del Castillo and Castro will each climb inside a 200-horsepower Scion FR-S sports car during the 10-lap Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, which will take place in downtown Long Beach.

The event will raise funds for the Racing for Kids organization, a national program that benefits children’s hospitals throughout the United States.

Ex-marine and Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer; journalist and former “Entertainment Tonight” host Mark Steines; and the winner of the previous edition of the race, comedian Adam Carolla, will also be among the competing celebrities, who undergo training sessions prior to the race.

The professional drivers who will compete against the celebrities include freestyle motocross champion and star of the MTV program “Nitro Circus,” Andy Bell; and National Hot Rod Association driver Melanie Troxel.

The celebrities receive a 30-second head start against the professionals.

The funds raised will be donated to organizations such as the Children’s Hospital of Orange County and Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach, both located in California.

Since 1991, Toyota has donated more than $2 million to the Racing for Kids organization.

The population of New York City last year reached a record 8.3 million after, for the first time in more than six decades, the number of people moving into the Big Apple exceeded the number who left.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday made the announcement concerning the latest Census data, which reveal that the number of New York residents increased by 161,564 between April 2010 and July 2012, rising to 8,336,697, the highest figure in history.

The increase in residents over the course of those two recent years came in all five boroughs making up the city: Brooklyn, with a 2.4 percent increase; Manhattan with 2.1 percent; Queens with 1.9 percent; The Bronx with 1.7 percent and Staten Island with 0.4 percent.

Bloomberg ascribed the increase to “multiple indicators” of quality of life in the city, including a record low level of crime and historic highs in tourism.

The mayor also emphasized the city’s high level of job creation and availability, with its total of 3.2 million private sector jobs in 2012, and the fact that 76 percent of New Yorkers live within 10 minutes walking distance from a park.

Bloomberg also said that there was no better indicator of a city’s solidity than hitting a record high in its population and having a net inflow of people. He also emphasized that New Yorkers have an average life expectancy of 80.9 years at latest tally.

Spain’s national soccer team is maintaining its clear dominance on the FIFA world ranking list for March, where there have been scarcely any changes among the relative positions of countries in the top 10 except for the fact that Colombia has shifted up into sixth place after breaking out of the point equality it had with Portugal, which now occupies the seventh slot.

Spain has 1610 points, 137 more than second-place Germany. Argentina also remained in third place with 1309 points, followed by England, which with 1309 points is maintaining the No. 4 position it acquired in February after defeating Brazil.

Italy continues in fifth place with 1173 points, followed by Colombia with 1159 and Portugal with 1133. In February, both the latter teams had been tied with 1129 points each.

Meanwhile, among other Ibero-American teams in the top 20, Ecuador is in 11th place with 1037 points, Mexico is in 15th with 995, immediately followed by Uruguay with 950, and Brazil is in 18th place with 908 points.

FIFA confirmed on Thursday that in preparing the classification list for March it took into account the results of 18 international matches, 15 of them for the classification phase of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup in the Maldives, where the main changes occurred in the lower portion of the list.

Afghanistan, for instance, enjoyed the greatest upward elevator ride among the countries on the list, now standing at 151 points and jumping 48 places to the 141st slot, its best position in history and with its classification assured for that tourney.

Another team that is experiencing great improvement is India, which has climbed 24 spots to 143rd place, although its classification is still not assured.

Carnival decided to evacuate about 5,000 passengers and crewmembers from its cruise ship Dream after they were stranded at the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, where the enormous vessel has been docked since Wednesday night after experiencing technical problems.

“We are making arrangements to fly all guests home via private charter flights and scheduled flights from St. Maarten,” the world’s largest cruise operator said in a statement, adding that passengers on the interrupted cruise “will receive a refund equivalent to three days of the voyage and 50 percent off a future cruise.”

The Carnival Dream can carry 3,646 passengers and a crew of 1,367.

“Yesterday, during regularly scheduled testing of the ship’s emergency diesel generator, a malfunction occurred,” Carnival said in its statement. “At no time did the ship lose power and the ship’s propulsion systems and primary power source was not impacted.”

The firm went on to say that there were periodic interruptions to elevators and restroom services for a few hours Thursday night but “all hotel systems are functioning normally and have been functional since approximately 12.30 a.m.”

However, in talking with local media and on the social networks, some passengers complained that they were not allowed to leave the vessel for a time and that some of the toilets had overflowed.

Because of the problem, the firm has decided to cancel the Dream’s next scheduled cruise, which was to have set sail from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on March 16.

Carnival also owns the Triumph, a cruise ship that was sailing in the Gulf of Mexico in January with more than 4,200 people on board when an engine room fire left it adrift.

It was towed into port five days later, but passengers had to face dwindling food supplies, no electric power and terrible hygienic conditions that converted the incident into a media spectacle and resulted in a number of lawsuits against the firm.

In January 2012, the Costa Concordia, owned by the same company, ran aground and sank off the Italian island of Giglio in the Mediterranean Sea. Twenty-five people died in the accident and seven are still missing and presumed dead.

Controversial actor Charlie Sheen recently took to Twitter to ask his followers to send disgusting “presents” to the school his young daughter once attending.

On Wednesday, Sheen tweeted that his 9-year-old daughter Sam was taken out of Viewpoint School in Calabasas, CA after she was bullied by a girl named Victoria about her appearance and even her father’s firing from Two and a Half Men.

According to Sheen, Sam was bullied so bad that she was becoming physically ill and couldn’t go to school. After three meetings with the school, and a conversation with Victoria’s parents who denied their daughter did anything, Sheen and his ex Denise Richards, took Sam out of Viewpoint in May.

In his Twitter rant, Sheen called for people to send “rotted egg, a roll of toilet paper or some dog sh*t” to the school for allowing the bullying to occur and for calling his daughter a liar. He added, “And if you’re feeling the ‘show and tell’ of it all, smear the sh*t to spell one name on the front door; VICTORIA.”

He went on to say the school “is run by trolls and charlatans.”

On Thursday, the school fired back via Twitter saying the incident was addressed “appropriately” and insisted, “Our School takes accusations of bullying very seriously. For over 50 years, Viewpoint School has provided a safe and nurturing environment for our students to thrive, and we will continue to do so.”

State lawmaker Joe Salazar, a Democrat from Thornton, has proposed abolishing a package of anti-immigrant laws that have been on Colorado’s books since 2006 including the one that demands the cooperation of local police with federal immigration authorities.

Salazar, an attorney with expertise in civil rights and one of the founders of the Colorado Latino Forum, on Wednesday presented bill HB13-1258, which soon will be debated in the state affairs committee of the local House of Representatives.

According to the legislator, the state’s prevailing immigration laws are obsolete, their enforcement is costly and the results are dubious.

At the beginning of January, Salazar had promised to sponsor a bill to abolish, among other things, law SB06-90, which requires local law enforcement forces to report to federal authorities any person arrested for any infraction who is suspected of being in the country illegally.

The bill already has the support of 24 of the state’s 65 representatives and two of the 35 senators.

The current anti-immigrant laws were approved during a special session of the Colorado legislature in 2006. Similar measures had already been rejected by popular vote in the November 2005 election.

The laws put into force in 2006 prohibit restricting cooperation by local law enforcement and public employees with federal immigration authorities and require that law enforcement forces report the arrest of anyone suspected of being undocumented to those federal authorities.

Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez, the former World Boxing Organization light-welterweight champion, has ruled out a fifth bout against Filipino Manny Pacquiao and instead mentioned Americans Timothy Bradley or Brandon Rios as possible opponents.

The 39-year-old boxer has squared off against Pacquiao on four occasions, fighting to a draw in the first fight and then losing two controversial decisions before winning their latest contest in December 2012 with a stunning sixth-round knockout.

“A fifth fight against Pacquiao would be pointless. We already saw (who is better). The goal we had has already been achieved. There’s nothing pending, everything’s been decided and (another bout) would be the last option,” Marquez told reporters.

The Mexican, a seven-time world champion in four different divisions, said his next opponent in the ring could be either Bradley - the current WBO welterweight champ - or Rios.

“Bradley won a controversial decision over Pacquiao, so why not take him into consideration if he’s a good fighter,” the boxer said.

Marquez said he would spend the rest of March mulling whether to continue boxing or retire, added that he is still trying to get his family’s support for another fight, possibly in September.

“If there’s a green light to keep going, we’ll see what the best option is and who’s the best rival to fight next,” he said.

Marquez, who has a record of 55 wins - 40 by knockout -, six defeats and one draw, said he may seek a title in the welterweight division because he “wouldn’t mind at all” becoming a champion in a fifth weight class.

Atlante and Puebla both eked out victories in penalty shootouts and will square off in the semifinals of the Copa MX tournament, while the other final-four match-up of that Mexican cup competition will pit America against Cruz Azul.

Neither Atlante nor Atlas were able to get the ball into the back of the net in regulation time of their contest on Wednesday, but the Cancun-based club one-upped their Guadalajara rivals 3-2 on penalties.

Atlante converted three tries and failed on their two other attempts, while Atlas scored on two of their five penalty kicks.

Puebla, meanwhile, won its penalty shootout against Pachuca 5-3 after the teams were knotted at 1-1 at the end of regulation.

American DaMarcus Beasley scored for Puebla in the 55th minute of Wednesday’s contest before Abraham Carreño got the equalizer in the 79th minute.

Luis Miguel Noriega, Diego de Buen, Isaac Romo, Ecuadorian Segundo Castillo and Uruguay’s Jonathan Lacerda converted penalty tries for Puebla, while Carreño, Hector Herrera and Argentina’s Fernando Cavenaghi found the back of the net for Pachuca in the shootout.

Mexico’s top human rights body has called for a probe into more than a score of current and former federal law-enforcement officials for alleged rights violations of Frenchwoman Florence Cassez, who spent seven years in prison on a kidnapping conviction before Mexico’s high court ordered her released in January.

The president of Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, or CNDH, Raul Plascencia, said in presenting a special report on the case at a press conference that numerous “irregularities” were found in the process leading to Cassez’s conviction in 2008.

He called for an investigation into 21 current and former police commanders and officers attached to the federal Attorney General’s Office and its now-defunct AFI investigative arm, Mexico’s equivalent of the FBI, who were involved in the case.

Cassez, now 38, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for kidnapping and other crimes, but Mexico’s Supreme Court ordered her immediate release in January on grounds her rights were violated.

The magistrates did not rule on her innocence or guilt.

Cassez was arrested on Dec. 8, 2005, on the Mexico City-Cuernavaca highway along with her boyfriend, Israel Vallarta, the suspected leader of the Los Zodiaco kidnapping gang.

A day later, AFI agents staged a mock raid so TV cameras could film the arrest of the gang members in a wooded area near Mexico City.

In ordering her release, the Supreme Court cited the re-enactment of the raid and other due-process violations.

The CNDH said it will file a formal complaint with the federal AG’s office calling on prosecutors to investigate those 21 current and former law-enforcement officials for probable crimes and administrative infractions and mete out appropriate punishment if necessary.

It also recommended that necessary measures be taken “to repair damage to the victims of kidnappings ascribed to the gang that Cassez allegedly belonged to.”

Latin America is “making great efforts” to improve highway safety, but they are still “not sufficient,” World Health Organization Department of Injuries and Violence Prevention director Etienne Krug said Thursday.

“More can be done at the political level to improve the legislation in many areas. The condition is political will and this does not exist in all countries,” Krug said during the presentation of the “Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013: Supporting a Decade of Action.”

Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Argentina have made the most progress in the area of highway safety and are now on the global list of countries with the fewest victims of traffic accidents, Krug said.

Brazil’s so-called “Dry Law,” which prohibits all drinking and driving, has led to a significant drop in highway fatalities, the WHO official said.

“In 2010, there were 1.24 million deaths worldwide from road traffic crashes, roughly the same number as in 2007. The report shows that while 88 Member States were able to reduce the number of road traffic fatalities, that number increased in 87 countries,” the WHO said in a statement.

Just a small number of countries, however, have taken all the key steps to improve highway safety, the U.N. agency said.

“Only 28 countries, covering 7 percent of the world’s population, have comprehensive road safety laws on all five key risk factors: drinking and driving, speeding, and failing to use motorcycle helmets, seat-belts, and child restraints,” the WHO said.